A few notes: Fargo was never ranked lower than third; Raising Arizona was never ranked higher than third; No Country for Old Men would rank second if not for Ann Hornaday's oddly complete distaste for it; Barton Fink (as high as No. 2 and as low as No. 13) and The Big Lebowski (from No. 1 to No. 11) are probably the most divisive. The bottom four are almost unanimous.

I have no particular desire to be a contrarian, and my own list is not far from what seems to be the (very rough) consensus. I do think that A Serious Man and, to a lesser extent, The Man Who Wasn't There, are underrated (their common feature: both are a little boring), while O Brother Where Art Thou? and, to a lesser extent, Miller's Crossing are a bit overrated (their common feature: a Southern setting?). My preference, I will freely admit, is for the stranger of the Coens' movies, which is reflected in the labels I've given to the groupings below. (I feel stronger about the groupings than I do about the order within them). I settled on Fargo at No. 1 in part because, with its noir-ish plot, dark humor, and Minnesota setting, it feels a bit like the quintessential Coen brothers movie.

By the way, even the "misfires" are pretty good. All but the last two in this list reward repeated viewing. (I tried to watch The Ladykillers a second time; I failed.)

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The Trinity

FargoThe Big LebowskiNo Country for Old Men

The Great Oddities

A Serious ManBarton FinkRaising Arizona

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Superb Entertainments

Miller's CrossingBurn After ReadingBlood SimpleTrue Grit

Interesting Misfires

The Man Who Wasn't ThereO Brother, Where Art Thou?The Hudsucker Proxy

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Watchable

Intolerable Cruelty

Unwatchable

The Ladykillers

There's something very satisfying about making such lists, and yet it's almost impossible to stay satisfied with one. (Maybe Raising Arizona should be fourth? The Big Lebowski first?) Perhaps it's better to be more specific: New York has ranked the Coens' best "idiot movies" and the best of their films' mustaches, Time has ranked their movies' best "moments," and The Awl has ranked the films based on which achieve the "most thorough realization of a world." I'm still waiting to see them ranked by "best accents" (Tim Blake Nelson in O Brother? Tommy Lee Jones in No Country? Frances McDormand in Fargo?). Just a matter of time, I'm sure.